Pretty Far Away From a Fairy Tale
by But You Can Call Me Willow
Summary: "Amelia Pond!" the golden-haired Capitol representative announces, and Amy's life goes downhill from there.  This story is AU.


**I don't really expect this to work, but I was inspired by a photoset on tumblr (you can find the link on my profile).**

**This story features Amy, the Doctor, Rory, River, Liz 10 (the Beast Below), Rita and Howie (the God Complex), Johanna, Finnick and Haymitch. Also a couple of OC's.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who or the Hunger Games.**

"Amelia Pond!" the golden-haired Capitol representative announces, and Amy screams.

.

John Smith settles across from her on the train.

"How come people call you the Doctor?" she asks, because when she kills this man she wants it to be for a reason, not just because he's the only tribute left.

"They just do," he replies, his voice calm, and Amy feels embarrassed. She's so weak, her eyes stained and voice cracking. She won't last ten minutes.

As if to prove her own point, she starts crying.

.

He's dressed in a red suit and feathers, while she wears white.

"Why'd you volunteer?" she whispers into his ear, the most intimate thing any two district partner's have done all night.

"Long story," he replies.

.

She cries at the interviews.

"You're using the wrong tactic," the Doctor tells her, and she hits him.

.

Johanna Mason and Kamaz Hurtley mentor them.

It's the third time Amy misses the mark and Johanna takes the axe from her and swings.

Amy doesn't waste breath screaming, but gets out of the way so quickly she's almost surprised.

"You're fucking useless," Johanna tells her, so Amy picks up a knife and throws it.

.

"You're smart," the Doctor remarks over breakfast. Amy doesn't even look up, until he continues. "That's why I volunteered."

It sticks in her mind because it makes no sense.

.

"You've got terrible aim, you're weak, you're slow, you're a horrible judge of character," Johanna throws at her one day. "When you get in there, you better be fucking brilliant."

.

The skinny red-haired kid from District 12 sits next to them while they're eating dinner and tells them that, much to the horror of his District Partner and the joy of his mentor, he thinks they should have an alliance.

Amy's about to say _no thanks, kid,_ but the Doctor grins.

"Hello."

.

The skinny redheaded kid prances up to them with the two tributes from District 9, the short-haired girl with the scar over one eye and the bulky sixteen year-old.

Casmana, the girl, tells Amy that their strategy is the best the games have seen in a long time, and the boy, Riller, starts into a speech about what weaknesses the Careers have.

Amy didn't know she and the Doctor had a strategy.

.

The Doctor whispers what's going to happen to her in one of the rare times they're training together.

She stares at him in horror. "We're going to die." This makes him laugh.

"We were going to anyway."

.

Casmana and Riller are so dedicated to this plan it makes Amy cringe. The skinny redheaded kid clings to it like he's drowning because Amy doubts he's had anything to believe in before. The Doctor's caught up in his own genius and probably hasn't considered the punishment.

Amy hates it. Of course she got stuck with the psycho District Partner. If she hadn't, she might have actually survived.

.

She gets a five in her assessment, he gets a seven.

.

They're lowered down into the arena, a half-desert half-forest.

"_May the odds be _ever _in your favour_."

The five of them decide on the plan just by looking at each while the timer counts down.

_Fifty-eight_

_Fifty-nine_

_Sixty_

The Doctor and Amy run. It feels heartbreakingly familiar, and it isn't until the skinny redheaded kid shouts out that they realize that he's right behind them, and carrying a pack.

They figure they've got far enough away from Cornucopia, and they risk of Riller and Casmana not finding them is too great if they continue.

The skinny redheaded kid tells them that he grabbed it from the very edge so there's probably barely anything in it.

He's right. There's a couple of bullets but no gun, some string and nothing to do with it.

"We could hang ourselves," the skinny redheaded kid says, grinning wickedly, and Amy sort of likes him.

.

Riller stumbles up with a gash in his arm and a sword and a backpack.

"Casmana's dead," he mutters, and the skinny redheaded kid patches him up while the Doctor looks into the pack.

Some unrecognizable ointment. Two knives and sheaths to go with them. Bandages. More bullets.

Amy doesn't care. Casmana's dead and they'll all soon follow.

She wonders if the Capitol is proud.

.

They sleep in shifts.

.

On the third day there are sixteen tributes left, and in celebration of being three of them, Riller tries to teach Amy and the Doctor to throw properly ("You District 7 lot don't know anything but axes and spears.")

Before either of them even hit the tree they're aiming for the skinny redheaded kid emerges from the bushes with three bulky packs and the same smirk from when they found the string.

"The Careers guard their food really badly." He lets this statement sink in, and Amy laughs.

.

For everything Johanna said about Amy's lack of skill, she's an excellent runner when she needs to be.

The sand floods into her shoes and drags her down, and the shouts and screams of the Careers behind her leaves no willingness to stop.

She does anyway.

"You're stupid," she tells them as she turns around, and it's probably out of pure shock that she's not killed on the spot. The girl from District 1 –River, Amy remembers. The only other eighteen year-old in the arena- looks to her District Partner, clearly not used to their prey fighting back.

"You're all so stupid," she continues, "What are you going to do? Just kill each other? When you've knocked off the rest of us you're just going to kill each other?" she laughs, but it's not her laugh, it's bitter, lifeless. " 'Course you are. You lot do every other year, it's not going to change because you're _so stupid_! You could just stop! You could just stop!"

The five Careers stare at her. Then River laughs.

"Kill her," and the boy from District 4 reluctantly moves forward to carry out the order, but the world explodes.

.

In her dreams, she grows old.

.

She wakes to the District 11 girl leaning over her.

"You're Amelia Pond," the girl grins. "You're brilliant."

Johanna's words echo in her head. _You'd better be fucking brilliant_.

"Hi," Amy says.

.

When the find the Doctor again, Amy knows Rita will make a good ally. There aren't many people who blow up your enemies and then have the decency to make you rest and take care of you as a sick form of compensation.

.

They go swimming in what Rita assures Amy is the only water source in the arena.

"It'll be good for your wounds," she says as she strips down, and they don't mention _and the sponsors. _

They swim to the middle and Amy tells her the plan.

.

There hasn't been a picture in the sky for a day, so the earthquakes start.

.

It's a good thing Rita's so tiny, because if she wasn't Amy might –_might_- have just left her there.

After a while, the weight seems almost natural on her back.

.

It's been three days since she's seen them -the Doctor and Riller and the skinny redheaded kid- so when she does she almost cries.

She's weak with exhaustion, and Rita's heavy against her spine.

The skinny redheaded kid jumps out of a tree and Amy would scream but she's tired, so tired, so she just looks at him, not sure what to expect from an unstable twelve-year-old.

"…_Amy!_" and at his cry the Doctor and Riller and the boy from 3 emerges from the bushes, and she feels Rita being lifted from her and the Doctor's arms around her, and in this sick twisted world Amy actually feels alright.

.

"You were right," she tells him when she's had as much sleep as the arena will allow. "It's a good plan. If no-one else will stand up, we have to."

.

It may be the Games, but it's sort of okay.

.

She hates everything. The trees. The sand. The sky. The rocks. The cameras.

The dark stain spreading across the skinny redheaded kid's stomach.

.

"What was his name?" she asks later, and no-one replies.

.

The Careers surface like stray cats that want your food, if stray cats wanted to kill you and use your supplies that you worked so hard for.

"Hello, sweeties," River beams at them –_she's quickly becoming Amy's idea of the devil_. "I have a proposition."

.

Out of the twelve left, Amy trusts five of them. Herself, the Doctor, Riller, Rita, and Howie, the boy from 3.

She does _not _trust the Careers. River from District 1 with her huge hair, the boy from 2 that they all just call Hit, the girl from 4 with red cape –_where did she get that from_- named Liz, and the bumbling boy that's her District Partner, Rory.

_She does not trust them_.

.

The chubby girl from 6 and the blond boy from 10 are hiding in a cave together.

It only takes one look at nine tributes standing there to convince them to join.

.

The mad grey-eyed girl from 10 threatens to shoot every one of them unless they all get on their knees in a vertical line.

.

The twelve of them sit in the clearing the Careers used as a camp, and the only two acting casual are the Doctor and River.

The rest of them sit in silence and hold their weapons close to their bodies.

.

That night the Doctor tells them the plan, because Amy and Riller and Rita were sick of avoiding people's eyes and being threatened by Hit.

"Please, sweetie," River says, mock-begging. "Just tell us."

A grin plays at the Doctor's lips. "We're going to stop the Games."

.

She supposes the Games must have stopped playing to the Districts because there's a continuous broadcast of "Continue the Games as usual of there will be penalties." that Liz has taken to shouting witty remarks at, and sometimes Kiala will throw knives at cameras and scream.

.

They dance and laugh and cry.

Rory introduces himself.

Amy tells the sky to go to hell.

.

The next day the executions start, playing in the sky. One person from each tributes family. Amy doesn't even cry.

.

_Except the Doctor_, Amy realizes later.

.

Names are so important.

John, Rita, Riller, Howie, River, Rory, Liz. Arum, who no-one calls Hit anymore. Kiala, the crazy knife-thrower, Wenrin, the simple minded fourteen year-old, Reanna, the irritable strategist.

Amy Pond, the girl with the mad District Partner and nice hair.

.

"You're all fucking insane! They're going to kill everyone! Don't you care? You don't, do you? None of you care! I was just trying to survive, and now we're all going to die! Don't you get it? All of us! We're all going to die!" Wenrin's shouting stops after a while, probably due to the steely glares that he's being given by eleven tributes.

Amy's aunt gets her head chopped off.

.

River slices into a mutt's neck.

"You know," she remarks to Amy, "I think they're still hoping for a winner."

Amy grins, and brings down her axe, while River shouts to the forest.

"_We're not going to kill each other!_"

.

On the seventh day of the rebellion, they start with the mentor's.

Johanna's dragged onto the screen kicking and screaming.

"_Don't you give up! You bitch, don't you fucking dare! Amy Pond, you fucker, you stay strong! Don't you dare give up! Don't you-_"

Amy flinches.

.

She's not sure why they killed Haymitch when both tributes from 12 died _ages_ ago, but she has to assume he made some inappropriate comment on live television.

He's still laughing when the electricity stops his heart.

.

"I'm not the Doctor anymore," he whispers, "I'm just John."

.

Rory shoots her a grateful smile when she rubs his shoulder. Finnick Odair's just been executed.

.

All the animals have been removed from the arena.

"They're taking away our food supply," Liz growls.

"If we're looking on the bright side," Reanna says, "this probably means they've run out of people to kill."

.

The announcement is less than thirty seconds.

"All tributes are commanded to continue the Games as normal. This is not acceptable. Drastic measures have already been taken. Continue the Games as usual or there will be penalties, including your own execution."

This new recording replays itself until they don't take any notice.

.

"They're still hoping for a winner," River repeats herself over what little breakfast they have, "But I think they're giving up."

.

The lake's drained the next day, and for some reason Rory sniggers.

"What?" Amy snaps at him.

"Now the only water in the forest is River." Amy has no idea why, but she laughs.

.

The hovercrafts wait overhead.

"We're going to die," Rita says calmly, and no-one contradicts her, or makes any effort to run or panic. It's all eerily expected.

.

Amy's hand finds John's, and then Rory's. She doesn't know what's happening, but Rita and Howie and clinging on to each other and River grasps John with one hand and Liz with the other, then the twelve of them are in a perfect circle.

No-one's crying, they're past that now.

"Bye!" Amy screams at them, and for the second time since she entered the Games, the world explodes.


End file.
